BeLooped allows up to 10 devices per account. If the 10 device limit is reached and you try to register one more, the device with the oldest registration date will be deregistered. In addition, the Account screen allows you to de-register devices that you no longer want to use. It’s especially important to de-register devices that you no longer own!

The bottom line:Up to 10 devices may be registered to one BeLooped account.

When you first register a device with BeLooped, we ask for your email address, and then email you a Secret Code. If you can tell us what that code is, we know you own that address. We then store a strong and very long password in a secure and protected area that only your device can see (and that you don’t need to memorize).

Because of this, BeLooped must be used on a device registered to your account. You may register up to 10 devices under one email address, and each device will get its own unique password.

The bottom line:If you lock your smartphone or tablet, your account is secure.

In order to guess a 6 digit secret code, you would have to guess the right combination out of 1,000,000 choices. There are a maximum of 3 guesses before the code is no longer valid. 11 codes can be generated in one day, and so the chance of a lucky guess is 1 in 30,303.

It turns out that if a bad guy took 33 guesses per day, every day for 30 years, they only have a 30.34% chance of fraudulently breaking into an account (and it would take the equivalent of about 376 eight-hour days during those 30 years). Realistically, there’s an even higher chance that the intended victim would have changed their BeLooped registration email during that time.

The bottom line:It’s easy to copy a 6 digit code from an email, but not so easy to break into an account.

In order to guess a 12 digit code, you would have to guess the right combination out of 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) choices. Unlike Secret Codes, which are generated by you, Invitation Codes are sent to you by other people. You may not notice them right away (depending on how frequently you check your inbox), and so they last 72 hours instead of 30 minutes.

You can only enter 5 invalid Invitation Codes per day. If there are 200,000 outstanding codes at the moment, then you would have a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of randomly entering one that works. In the highly unlikely chance that you join a group you shouldn’t, the GM of the group would probably notice the bright yellow “New Member” banner above your name in the group and expel you.

The bottom line:A longer code is needed so it can stay secure/valid for a longer period of time.

News:News posts need the GM’s approval, so they’re used for things like formal announcements. News entries stay inside the BeLooped App and can be seen by the whole group. Pro (paying) members may submit news stories that they have written to the GM.

Forum:The forum is for sending group-wide messages. Forum entries stay inside the BeLooped App and can be seen by the whole group.

Email:Emails are private peer-to-peer communication, and can be read in and outside of the BeLooped application.

Messages:Messages are private peer-to-peer communication, and are “pushed” to recipients.

Phone:Phone calls are private, peer-to-peer and greatly reduce the chance of misunderstandings when compared to any written communication.

The bottom line:BeLooped facilitates a wide variety of ways to communicate.

When a group uses BeLooped to be better organized, those who do not “join the hive” hurt everyone else, not just themselves. That’s because they still need to be kept in the loop by somebody, and that somebody is almost always the group’s leader: the GM.

That’s why we allow Free use of BeLooped. Members with free (or expired) accounts can still view group information in most tabs, although the only thing that they can update is their own persona. Free users may also be the GM of a small group so they can see how BeLooped works.

If a group’s GM forgets to pay their subscription or purposely leaves the group, then that group’s data becomes read-only for everyone (until they resubscribe of course). In the future, we will allow some other member to take over management of an expired group. In the short term, one of the group members could clone the group, as described in the How To section.

The bottom line:Free users are mostly restricted to reading group information.

People speak and behave differently depending on context. For example, you show a different aspect of your complete self while you’re at work than when you’re spending time with friends. You likely dress differently at church than you would while playing in a band.

To support your right to be who you want to be, BeLooped allows you to define your Persona (or profile) differently in each group of which you are a member.

The communication methods you share can be different with each group. Your picture can also be different... in fact, even your name can be different in each group.

The bottom line:Personas give you complete control over what you share with different groups.

As the tier you subscribe to increases, you are able to be the GM of more and larger groups. As well, you gain additional capabilities such as the ability to contribute to the Forum, nominate new members, suggest new resources and submit news stories.

Free

Basic

Pro

Maximum Groups (including as a member); hard limit)

200

200

200

Maximum Groups as GM

2

20

40

Maximum Members/Group (includes Visible members)

6

50

160

Maximum Resources/Group (includes Visible resources)

5

30

60

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspMaximum Published News

10

30

70

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp+ Maximum UnPublished (i.e. Private) News

10

10

10

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp= Total News Items (calculated)

20

40

80

Maximum Group Slobs

800

1800

1800

Maximum Private Slobs

800

1800

1800

Maximum Private Members/Group

300

300

300

Maximum Private Resources/Group

200

200

200

Can Add Private Members to Groups you’ve joined

No

Yes

Yes

Can Add Private Resources to Groups you’ve joined

No

Yes

Yes

Can Suggest/Nominate/Submit Private items to the GM

No

Yes, if GM allows it

Yes, if GM allows it

Can Accept Nomination/Suggestion/Submission as a GM

No

Yes

Yes

Can use Aliases to override Member/Resource/Group names and icons

No

Yes

Yes

Can Add Private Notes to Groups and Members

No

Yes

Yes

Can Import from other Groups

No

Yes

Yes

Can Import from Contacts

No

Yes

Yes

Can Invite or Visible when importing multiple people from Contacts

No

Yes

Yes

Can add comments to Forum

No

Yes

Yes

Maximum Groups (including as a member); hard limit)

Free: 200

Basic: 200

Pro: 200

Maximum Groups as GM

Free: 2

Basic: 20

Pro: 40

Maximum Members/Group (includes Visible members)

Free: 6

Basic: 50

Pro: 160

Maximum Resources/Group (includes Visible resources)

Free: 5

Basic: 30

Pro: 60

Maximum Published News

Free: 10

Basic: 30

Pro: 70

Maximum Unpublished (i.e. Private) News

Free: 10

Basic: 10

Pro: 10

= Total News Items (calculated)

Free:20

Basic:40

Pro:80

Maximum Group/Private Slobs

Free: 800

Basic: 1800

Pro: 1800

Maximum Private Members/Group

Free: 300

Basic: 300

Pro: 300

Maximum Private Resources/Group

Free: 200

Basic: 200

Pro: 200

Can Add Private Members to Groups you’ve joined

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Can Add Private Resources to Groups you’ve joined

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Can Suggest/Nominate/Submit Private items to the GM

Free: No

Basic: Yes, if allowed

Pro: Yes, if allowed

Can Accept Nomination/Suggestion/Submission as a GM

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Can use Aliases to override names and icons

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Can Add Private Notes to Groups and Members

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Can Import from other Groups

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Can Import from Contacts

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Can Invite or Visible when importing multiple people from Contacts

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Can add comments to Forum

Free: No

Basic: Yes

Pro: Yes

Company

Advertising has changed a lot. In the past, advertisers had little to go on when they wanted to reach a particular audience. Today, almost everything you do on the internet is tracked, shared, then merged with other data sources by analytics companies. After that, your data is sold to advertisers, insurance companies, and political parties. We believe that delivering something worth paying for is more honest than selling our users’ data.

You are not the product we sell: BeLooped is.

The bottom line:BeLooped is advertisement free because we want BeLooped to be a quiet, safe place away from internet pollution.

Short version: BeLooped is our chance to change the world. Yeah, we know: everyone says that. But in our case it’s true.

The BeLooped team members have been “doing software” for an average of 34 years each. We remember when the primary purpose of software to do something useful, not to quietly gather for profit as much personal information as possible.

Age gives perspective and ours is that:

the steady erosion of personal privacy is dangerous.

people should interact in the real world, not just cyberspace.

The opportunity to benefit millions of people by building something for real-world groups (and everyone is in multiple of those) while maintaining privacy felt like a good thing to do.

Of course, we also want this endeavour to feed our families. As John once put it: “Ultimately, we code for food.”

BeLooped cares deeply about your right to privacy. We do not sell, rent, lease, lend, give, or in any other way share your email address (or any other personal information) with other companies.

Most apps that give you free software are actually cashing in on your personal data. YOU are the product they sell. BeLooped offers in-app purchases instead of selling what you say, what you do and where you are.

Your email is your ID - Your email address acts as your ID. There are many Debbie Browns in the world, but only one DBrown@BeeMail.buzz That is why we use your email address: it’s guaranteed to be a unique ID. When you register, you’ll claim to “own” a specific email address. We confirm this by sending a Secret Code to it and asking you to verify the code.

How we WON’T use your email - We won’t spam you. If there’s a new feature that we want to tell you about, we’ll let you know from within BeLooped. We do not sell, rent, lease, lend, give, or in any other way share your email address (or any other personal information).

How we WILL use your email - We add your registration email to your profile. You decide which groups to share it with or you can remove it from your profile altogether. We’ll reply to emails that you send us. In rare cases, we may need permission to use your registered ID email to provide you with support.

The bottom line:We use your email address to confirm that you are who you say you are, not to make money.

The ways in which we could generate income to pay our employees and host the BeLooped service came down to two options:

collect and sell information about our customers to advertisers, political parties and the like, or

create something worth paying for

Option (2) was the more honest business model. Besides: by NOT selling your personal data we don’t have to include mysterious code from other companies that want your data. That’s easier for us and safer for you.

If you just use BeLooped to join somebody else’s group, it’s free. We even throw in the ability to have a small group to test it out. If you want lots of bigger groups? Well, then BeLooped will cost you less than a single piece of bubble gum per day. Seriously!